Sustaining a living at college?

[Injury]

Originally posted by: astroidea

Originally posted by: akubi
find roommates. $720/mo rent for a college student is utter stupidity. move into the student dorms if that's an option.

student dorms start at $1075/mo
i just actually cancelled my dorm plan because i found out it's at the exact same place as these off campus apartments that I just went to sign up for $720/mo.
i'm guessing you don't know california housing costs?

WTF kind of dorms are you living in? Even in California there should be a cheap "Everything in a 12x12 room with a community shower" option, right? If that's $1075/mo then I can't wait for California to break away and leave the US. I've seen posts on this forum where people are renting out a room in someone's house for a fraction of that... if you want to live at your means, you should probably start looking for a room to rent. I'm sure in the current situation there are loads of people that wouldn't mind an extra $500/mo at the cost of not being able to use a room to keep garbage they probably don't need.


Regardless, the VERY first step you need to do is to sit down a write out a proper budget and start tracking your expenses. If you can't make the money you are spending, then you need to cut the money you are spending. We can help you with that, but you need to tell us what you are spending for us to cut it. We need mileage per week, cost to fill up, expected maint. costs per month, insurance, expected food costs per week, alcohol money, housing, gas/electric/water/cable/internet... EVERYTHING.

It's not hard to get yourself on track financially, but you can't just try and memorize all this stuff and hope it turns out.

 

[akubi]

pasta and beans, good bang for the buck.

or if you have weak taste buds you can try http://www.costco.com/Browse/P...browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

 

[ggnl]

Work more and learn to live without sleep. Use loans if you have to, but don't rely on them or you're going to be digging yourself out of debt for 10 years after you graduate.

Sucks to be poor, doesn't it?

 

[wheresmybacon]

Loans and delivering pizzas

 

[irishScott]

Live in the dorm. Much cheaper, better social life. It also satisfies a lot of the stuff you're having problems with:

Phone is obviously provided, as is the ridiculously fast University network and about 60 channels of analog cable.

As far as food goes, my University requires everyone on campus to have a meal plan, so I just use it. You can get up to 19 meals a week, and the dining halls are actually pretty good (burgers are freshly grilled, once they had close to restaurant quality rotisserie chicken). You also get a certain number of "points" that can be used elsewhere.

I imagine your Univ does something similar to the above?

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: akubi
pasta and beans, good bang for the buck.

or if you have weak taste buds you can try http://www.costco.com/Browse/P...browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

That is fucking awesome. For those that just can't cough up 32 cents a serving for food, there's new Costco Bucket'o'Food!

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire

Originally posted by: akubi
pasta and beans, good bang for the buck.

or if you have weak taste buds you can try http://www.costco.com/Browse/P...browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

That is fucking awesome. For those that just can't cough up 32 cents a serving for food, there's new Costco Bucket'o'Food!

holy shit that comes with a lot of stuff, i think i might order one

 

[akubi]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Born2bwire

Originally posted by: akubi
pasta and beans, good bang for the buck.

or if you have weak taste buds you can try http://www.costco.com/Browse/P...browse=<=en-US&s=1

That is fucking awesome. For those that just can't cough up 32 cents a serving for food, there's new Costco Bucket'o'Food!

holy shit that comes with a lot of stuff, i think i might order one

potato bakon, how can you resist?

 

[MotF Bane]

I have a good credit score, cloned from my parents', so I'm doing college tuition/board/meal plan on loans, books with money from a summer job, and spending money is basically my parents' only contribution. Between my sister going somewhere next year, and co-ops, I'm looking at about 50k loans by graduation. It certainly could be a lot worse.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: irishScott
Live in the dorm. Much cheaper, better social life. It also satisfies a lot of the stuff you're having problems with:

Phone is obviously provided, as is the ridiculously fast University network and about 60 channels of analog cable.

As far as food goes, my University requires everyone on campus to have a meal plan, so I just use it. You can get up to 19 meals a week, and the dining halls are actually pretty good (burgers are freshly grilled, once they had close to restaurant quality rotisserie chicken). You also get a certain number of "points" that can be used elsewhere.

I imagine your Univ does something similar to the above?

Well if you read above, dorms starts at 1075/mo for me
The meal plan that comes with it totally sucks too.
5 meals a week, and $750 dining dollars a year.

My apartment is a bargain compared to it, and being in the exact same building too(they ran out of space for transfer students, so they leased out part of an off campus apartment complex for dorms).

 

[yhelothar]

I'm aiming for a PhD btw. Am I going to make it out of this under $200k in loans?
A career as a research professor doesn't sound too promising to pay back this loan either, especially in the first decade or so with little experience.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: akubi
find roommates. $720/mo rent for a college student is utter stupidity. move into the student dorms if that's an option.

Uh do you KNOW what you're talking about? I lived in Berkeley and 2 BRs were going for 1900+ last year. My apartment was listed for 1990 /mo when I moved out. Guess what I moved in at? 1490. Split 2 way that's PRETTY DAMN GOOD in Berkeley. I tell anyone what I paid for rent and they were amazed. Yeah. I have friends at Davis paying sub $500 for their own room, but tough. People who go to Cal or UCLA pay top dollar for rent.

I paid $1010 / month in the dorms for a TRIPLE. Screw that. It's like 12k or something for a double per year, and divide that for 10 months and you're paying 1200+. I can get a studio for less than that.

My gf lives at a 2br with 4 people total ($2350/4).

Trust me, housing is NOT good here. I remember searching for sub $1400 apartments with my roommate and stuff that went for 1300 were utter crap and junk. Unless you're paying $2000+, you're probably getting some 50 year old apartment that looks like crap here.

Good god you people, unless you understand CA housing, stop going nuts. Paging neutralizer and ed21x my Cal buddies. Housing is NOT cheap.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: akubi
find roommates. $720/mo rent for a college student is utter stupidity. move into the student dorms if that's an option.

Uh do you KNOW what you're talking about? I lived in Berkeley and 2 BRs were going for 1900+ last year. My apartment was listed for 1990 /mo when I moved out. Guess what I moved in at? 1490. Split 2 way that's PRETTY DAMN GOOD in Berkeley. I tell anyone what I paid for rent and they were amazed. Yeah. I have friends at Davis paying sub $500 for their own room, but tough. People who go to Cal or UCLA pay top dollar for rent.

I paid $1010 / month in the dorms for a TRIPLE. Screw that. It's like 12k or something for a double per year, and divide that for 10 months and you're paying 1200+. I can get a studio for less than that.

this is why cali sucks

for 1500-2k a month you could buy a 3000+ sqft house where i went to college

 

[Shawn]

yikes! where do you live where you have to pay over $700 a month? Rent is only $400 for me including utilities. but of course I have roommates.

 

[summit]

5500 a year is not enough for uc. your tuition + housing is around 20k a year. you have to make 15k a year. fedex/ups has great jobs for college students 4 hrs a day better than min wage+ benefits. im not sure but i believe starbucks has something like this too.

 

[rezinn]

Originally posted by: astroidea
I'm aiming for a PhD btw. Am I going to make it out of this under $200k in loans?
A career as a research professor doesn't sound too promising to pay back this loan either, especially in the first decade or so with little experience.

You shouldn't have much cost for your graduate education if you do research in a decent lab and have them pay your tuition. Should be less than 100k if you're only taking out 5500 this year.

Are you living at Grand Marc?

 

[oddyager]

I remember applying for a UC school over 10 years ago and it was over $25K then for room and board plus tuition. :Q

Purdue was $16K and I worked at Sam's Club (was able to get discounts for household items and food) and the campus Computer Labs to help out with rent and food.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: akubi
find roommates. $720/mo rent for a college student is utter stupidity. move into the student dorms if that's an option.

Uh do you KNOW what you're talking about? I lived in Berkeley and 2 BRs were going for 1900+ last year. My apartment was listed for 1990 /mo when I moved out. Guess what I moved in at? 1490. Split 2 way that's PRETTY DAMN GOOD in Berkeley. I tell anyone what I paid for rent and they were amazed. Yeah. I have friends at Davis paying sub $500 for their own room, but tough. People who go to Cal or UCLA pay top dollar for rent.

I paid $1010 / month in the dorms for a TRIPLE. Screw that. It's like 12k or something for a double per year, and divide that for 10 months and you're paying 1200+. I can get a studio for less than that.

this is why cali sucks

for 1500-2k a month you could buy a 3000+ sqft house where i went to college

Jesus, California sucks ASS. You pay as one person what me and 4 other guys were about to on a house, COMBINED. Course, that didn't work out, and now me and my roommate are paying $510/ea for a 1100 sq. ft. apt. 3 miles away from campus. And we're moving farther away from campus to newer, nicer apartments for cheaper, $400/ea and slightly larger. The drive is 10 miles vs. 3 miles, but I'm kind of sick of being everyone's party place and hangout. Now I'll only be seeing people at home when I actually want them there.

Oh, and in Florida, get a 3.5 weighted GPA in high school and a 1270 SAT/28 ACT and you get a 100% scholarship to any university in the state, plus some cash for books. 3.0 weighted and 970 SAT/20 ACT gets you 75% at a university, 100% at a community college. Hooray for lotto money.

 

[Linflas]

I worked, had real GI Bill (pre 1977) benefits, and took out student loans for the last 2 years.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: nonameo
Live in a tent?

I knew a few guys in college who lived in a yurt.

 

[Jeff7]

I've got grants and loans, and gambling on having a good engineering job sometime after graduation.
My biggest hurdle that I can see is going to be feigning "enthusiasm" during interviews.

Originally posted by: irishScott
Live in the dorm. Much cheaper, better social life. It also satisfies a lot of the stuff you're having problems with:

Phone is obviously provided, as is the ridiculously fast University network and about 60 channels of analog cable.

As far as food goes, my University requires everyone on campus to have a meal plan, so I just use it. You can get up to 19 meals a week, and the dining halls are actually pretty good (burgers are freshly grilled, once they had close to restaurant quality rotisserie chicken). You also get a certain number of "points" that can be used elsewhere.

I imagine your Univ does something similar to the above?

I found the meal plans to be insanely expensive.
Here, there's a $1000 base cost before you even start buying meal points. The lowest is the "Plan 1," which would probably sustain a toddler.
The campus food selection is an all-you-can-eat buffet style place that has a reputation for causing various, shall we say, "gastrointestinal anomalies." The other is essentially a fast food place, a combination of McDonalds-style burgers, grilled cheese, hot dogs, and ready-made subs. Expensive stuff, too.

So not only are the meal plans themselves horrible deals, but the food they pay for is overpriced.

That $1000 base cost alone is way more than enough for me to buy food at a regular grocery store for an entire semester.
Having a car and paying for parking, even while living on campus, is pretty much a necessity. There is nothing in easy walking distance except a small hobby store that a guy runs out of his garage. Everything is at least 5 miles from campus.

So review your options, and calculate the costs ahead of time.

 

[Baked]

You have daddy pay for everything, duh. If you don't have a daddy who pays for everything, see if you can get one of the ATOT daddies to sponsor you.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: akubi
find roommates. $720/mo rent for a college student is utter stupidity. move into the student dorms if that's an option.

Uh do you KNOW what you're talking about? I lived in Berkeley and 2 BRs were going for 1900+ last year. My apartment was listed for 1990 /mo when I moved out. Guess what I moved in at? 1490. Split 2 way that's PRETTY DAMN GOOD in Berkeley. I tell anyone what I paid for rent and they were amazed. Yeah. I have friends at Davis paying sub $500 for their own room, but tough. People who go to Cal or UCLA pay top dollar for rent.

I paid $1010 / month in the dorms for a TRIPLE. Screw that. It's like 12k or something for a double per year, and divide that for 10 months and you're paying 1200+. I can get a studio for less than that.

this is why cali sucks

for 1500-2k a month you could buy a 3000+ sqft house where i went to college

Jesus, California sucks ASS. You pay as one person what me and 4 other guys were about to on a house, COMBINED. Course, that didn't work out, and now me and my roommate are paying $510/ea for a 1100 sq. ft. apt. 3 miles away from campus. And we're moving farther away from campus to newer, nicer apartments for cheaper, $400/ea and slightly larger. The drive is 10 miles vs. 3 miles, but I'm kind of sick of being everyone's party place and hangout. Now I'll only be seeing people at home when I actually want them there.

Oh, and in Florida, get a 3.5 weighted GPA in high school and a 1270 SAT/28 ACT and you get a 100% scholarship to any university in the state, plus some cash for books. 3.0 weighted and 970 SAT/20 ACT gets you 75% at a university, 100% at a community college. Hooray for lotto money.

wow thats a pretty kickass deal,

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: akubi
find roommates. $720/mo rent for a college student is utter stupidity. move into the student dorms if that's an option.

Uh do you KNOW what you're talking about? I lived in Berkeley and 2 BRs were going for 1900+ last year. My apartment was listed for 1990 /mo when I moved out. Guess what I moved in at? 1490. Split 2 way that's PRETTY DAMN GOOD in Berkeley. I tell anyone what I paid for rent and they were amazed. Yeah. I have friends at Davis paying sub $500 for their own room, but tough. People who go to Cal or UCLA pay top dollar for rent.

I paid $1010 / month in the dorms for a TRIPLE. Screw that. It's like 12k or something for a double per year, and divide that for 10 months and you're paying 1200+. I can get a studio for less than that.

this is why cali sucks

for 1500-2k a month you could buy a 3000+ sqft house where i went to college

Jesus, California sucks ASS. You pay as one person what me and 4 other guys were about to on a house, COMBINED. Course, that didn't work out, and now me and my roommate are paying $510/ea for a 1100 sq. ft. apt. 3 miles away from campus. And we're moving farther away from campus to newer, nicer apartments for cheaper, $400/ea and slightly larger. The drive is 10 miles vs. 3 miles, but I'm kind of sick of being everyone's party place and hangout. Now I'll only be seeing people at home when I actually want them there.

Oh, and in Florida, get a 3.5 weighted GPA in high school and a 1270 SAT/28 ACT and you get a 100% scholarship to any university in the state, plus some cash for books. 3.0 weighted and 970 SAT/20 ACT gets you 75% at a university, 100% at a community college. Hooray for lotto money.

wow thats a pretty kickass deal,

yeh, Florida college students can also thank the tourist dollars that are pumped into the state for that one.

 

[Toastedlightly]

I did what it seems the majority did. I took out loans. I'm not going to school to overstress myself, I ma going to school to learn.